One of the features in Vista Ultimate is Complete PC Backup and Restore. This allows for easier system backup of your hard disk, essentially making a clone or image of the current state of the hard drive. This feature is available in Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate versions of Vista.

Complete PC Backup and Restore should not be confused with Automatic Backup which only backup up files and settings. Auto backup is available on all versions of Vista except for Home Basic.

Today we will look at one option to create an image of a hard drive with Vista Home Premium using the free utility DriveImage XML. **These Screenshots were taken on an XP machine … the application works the same for both Vista and XP**

DriveImage XML allows you to back up files and complete disk images into an XML file which you can use to restore the copy later.

The application is extremely easy to use. Just follow through the steps with the Drive Backup Wizard.

It is as easy as finding the drive you want to back up and deciding where to back up the XML image to. DriveImage XML even allows you to back up the disc while you are still using it.

Progress of the back up is shown by sector.

Additional features include disk to disk backup and you can use Task Scheduler to automate the process for you. Backing up to a network drive is also available. DriveImage XML is free and is a superb disk imaging solution to add to Vista Home Premium. This application also works with Windows XP.